China says U.S. putting ‘knife to its neck’, hard to proceed on trade

China says U.S. putting ‘knife to its neck’, hard to proceed on trade The Saigon Times Daily Chinese Vice Commerce Minister and Deputy China International Trade Representative Wang Shouwen leaves a news conference in Beijing, China, April 4, 2018 – PHOTO: REUTERS BEIJING (REUTERS) – A senior Chinese official said on Tuesday it is difficult to proceed with trade talks with the United States while Washington is putting “a knife to China’s neck”, a day after both sides heaped fresh tariffs on each other’s goods. When the talks can restart would depend on the “will” of the United States, Vice Commerce Minister Wang Shouwen said at a news conference in Beijing. U.S. tariffs on US$200 billion worth of Chinese goods and retaliatory taxes by Beijing on US$60 billion worth of U.S. products including liquefied natural gas (LNG) kicked in on Monday, unnerving global financial markets. “Now that the United States has adopted such a huge trade restriction measure… how can the negotiations proceed? It’s not an equal negotiation,” Wang said, stressing the United States has abandoned its mutual understanding with China. The Chinese government’s top diplomat also told business people at a meeting in New York that talks could not take place against the backdrop of “threats and pressure”, the Foreign Ministry said. Certain forces in the United States have been making groundless criticisms against China about trade and security issues, which has poisoned the atmosphere for Sino-U.S. ties and is highly irresponsible, State Councillor Wang Yi was quoted as… [Read full story]